Latest update January 18th, 2025 4:29 AM
NAC gets support to improve its operation
NAC Board Member, Mr. Archibald Clifton
The National Accreditation Council (NAC) is actively engaged in the evaluation of 54 tertiary and post-secondary institutions of which 34 are private. These institutions, according to Mr. Archibald Clifton, an NAC Board Member, are currently at different levels of registration or re-registration.
NAC, Clifton said, is tasked with holding various meetings, monitoring visits, quality enhancement support of institutions, among others. But there are inadequacies in the operation of the NAC.
Speaking at a recent stakeholders’ forum at the National Centre for Educational Resource Development, Clifton acknowledged this state of affairs. The workshop is one designed to help improve the efficiency of NAC.
In order to achieve this goal, Clifton spoke of some critical milestones that have been approved by the Council for this year. He highlighted the need for staff training, with particular focus on technical officers in quality assurance as the opportunity arises, efforts are made to improve the efficiency of services through increased monitoring; the offering of programme approval and accreditation services.
As part of its improvement efforts, Clifton said that NAC will be seeking to have at least three of 17 government institutions registered while simultaneously embarking on a public relations campaign to inform the public and important stakeholders of the existence of the Council’s services.
Clifton observed that there is need for consumers of the private education sector to be more informed about the systems the Ministry of Education has in place to protect them from exploitation. In this regard the electronic and print media will be used to disseminate information, he noted.
But the stakeholders’ forum was intended to serve as a lead up to the wider campaign. In fact it was designed to solicit comments and suggestions, particularly in the areas of confirming, regulations, accreditation, equivalency and recognition and the foreign awarding and transnational bodies and institutions from stakeholders in attendance.
But according to Clifton, “I would like my colleagues of the Council and the (NAC) Secretariat to know that meeting the milestone of these deliverables will require the effective and efficient use of all the resources under our control as well as the cooperation of all stakeholders to maximise the organisation’s productivity.”
The operation of the NAC is one governed by legislation. The NAC Act Number 12 of 2014 is an Act to provide for the establishment of a body vested with the power to grant recognition awards, obtained in Guyana and elsewhere, to determine the equivalence of all awards for the purpose of establishing acceptable standards within the Caribbean Community.
It was established by Article Two of the Revised Treaty of Chagauramas, and includes the Community Single Market and Economy established by provision of that treaty, for the purposes connected to and enacted by the Guyana Parliament.
Moreover, the body has the statutory responsibility to impose fees, recover fess, apply restrictions and prohibitions, establish procedures and appeals, spell out what constitutes an offence and, with the approval of the Minister of Education, make regulations for the better carrying out of the provisions of the Act.
The NAC as a body corporate comprises 11 Board members, including a Chairman and Director who is the ex officio member. According to Clifton, “The Board is supported by a motivated Secretariat which is under-staffed at the moment but most importantly, demonstrates strong team momentum, enthusiasm and pride.”
NAC is currently gaining support to upgrade its regulatory framework to address the current inadequacies which have prevented the Council from effectively performing. Plans are also apace for the development of a pricing structure for NAC’s services which will improve the service delivery capacity and sustainability of the Council.
An improved NAC is expected to be in place ahead of the expected hosting of the 13th Annual Conference of Caribbean Area Network for Quality Assurance and Tertiary Education. The hosting of the conference, according to Clifton, will be done in collaboration with the Ministry of Education.
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